1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector housing positioning unit. More particularly, the present invention relates to a connector housing positioning unit for positioning connector housings in predetermined positions in order to insert terminals fixed to ends of electric wires to the connector housing in manufacturing of a wire harness.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a wire harness employed in an automobile and the like is an electric wiring system composed of a bundle of plural electric wires that are cut to a predetermined dimension. A manufacturing process of such a wire harness includes the steps of measuring and cutting electric wires to a predetermined length, stripping insulating sheaths at the ends of the wires cut to a the predetermined length, crimping crimp terminals to stripped core at the ends of wires, inserting the crimped terminals to a connector housing and bundling the wires connected to the connector housing.
The steps for manufacturing wire harnesses are being automated for the purpose of such rationalizations as reduction in time and cost required for producing a wire harness. Specifically, in the step of inserting a terminal, various automatic apparatuses are proposed for automatically inserting a terminal into a connector housing.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 63-174224, for example, discloses a terminal inserting apparatus for inserting terminals to connector housings Juxtaposed in a predetermined direction with spaces therebetween. In a practical application of such a terminal inserting apparatus, it is required to provide a connector housing feeding apparatus for positioning connector housings placed side by side, and feeding the juxtaposed connector housings to the terminal inserting apparatus.
In such a connector housing feeding apparatus, a high efficiency and versatility that provide an applicability to various types of wire harnesses are demanded in these days. In other words, wire harnesses are different in the number of connectors and circuits depending on their particular product applications. In addition, the more complicated the wiring of a particular product is then the greater it would be to use a variety of connector housings. Thus, a connector housing feeding apparatus for efficiently and versatilely producing various wire harnesses is demanded.
Conventional connector housing feeding apparatuses, however, are for specific applications, and insufficient in such efficiency and versatility.
A connector housing feeding apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 63-314716, for example, employs the following structure. A stationary member of the connector housing feeding apparatus has a mounting member formed integrally therewith. A holder for a connector housing is exchangeably attached to the mounting member. On the other hand, the stationary member is provided with a locking member for releasably locking the holder and a driving mechanism for driving the locking member. Then, a positioning unit is composed of the mounting member, holder, locking member and driving mechanism.
In the foregoing conventional conector housing feeding apparatus, because the holder is attached to the mounting member of the stationary member, the holder would be exchanged more and more as more types of connector housings are used. Naturally, such increase of replacements restricts a versatility and efficiency of the connector housing feeding apparatus.
In addition to the above example of prior art, other connector housing feeding apparatuses are disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Utility Patent Nos. 63-116920, 63-117088 and 63-123082, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent No. 63-200416. One each connector housing feeding apparatus is provided with a turntable which revolves about a vertical axis. Plural groups of connector housing positioning mechanisms are employed in each side of the turntable for positioning connector housings in directions crossing the rotational axis of the turntable. The positioning mechanism comprises plural holders formed integrally with the turntable and a locking member cooperating with the holder for holding a corresponding connector housing. The positioning mechanism is alternately conveyed to a connector housing loading/unloading position and terminal inserting position by the turntable.
The latter connector housing feeding apparatus is superior to the former. Because the connector housing positioning mechanism is carried to the connector housing loading/unloading position and terminal inserting position by means of the turntable, feeding of connector housings from a connector housing supply to the terminal inserting position is facilitated, thereby, providing higher reliability and efficiency.
Nevertheless with latter connector housing feeding apparatus, it is also hard to attain a versatility of the apparatus or the turntable because the holder is integrally formed with the turntable in the positioning mechanism.
Therefore, what is really needed is a connector housing positioning unit that composes a connector housing feeding apparatus with high efficiency and versatility.